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Innocent Pakistani Preacher from Kohat Scarred by
10 Months in Guantanamo Bay
Saw Crimes of Dostum and
U.S.
: His Attorney is
Suing for $10.4 m
[Courtesy
Afghanistan-SL
list]
BBC
Thursday, 10 July, 2003
A Pakistani man who was imprisoned by America at
Guantanamo Bay is preparing
to sue the US Government for $10.4m.
Mohammed Sagheer was released last November after
10 months in captivity
alongside around 600 other inmates.
Now the 51-year-old's lawyer, Mohammed Ikram
Chaudhry, has served legal notice
to the US authorities and will sue if they do not
respond within a month.
In an interview with the
BBC
World Service's World Today programme,
Mr Chaudhry
said that he believed his client's mental health
had been affected during
his captivity.
He said that they had arrived at the figure of
$10.4m because of the "mental,
physical and moral suffering" Mr Sagheer had
undergone.
Sometime I did feel that he was a little
mentally deranged and disturbed
Ikram Chaudhry
The money would also be compensation for the
threat to life and loss of
liberty
he had suffered.
Mr Sagheer says he underwent periods of solitary
confinement during his
captivity
and alleges he was served alcohol-laced drinks -
contrary to his religion
of Islam.
Asked about the impact of captivity on Mr
Sagheer, Mr Chaudhry told the World
Today: "He seems to be normal but the conditions
he went through have
definitely
had a very deep impact on his health and on his
condition as a whole.
"Sometime I did feel that he was a little
mentally deranged and disturbed,
of course ... there was an incoherence in his
speech when he was telling
me details of all those events he went through."
Preaching mission
Mr Sagheer, who is from the town of Kohat, was on
a preaching mission in
northern Afghanistan when he was arrested by
Afghan warlord General Rashid
Dostum and handed to the US authorities.
He says he witnessed scores of people dying
including 50 who suffocated to
death as he was transported across Afghanistan.
Mr Sagheer also says he saw hundreds of fellow
prisoners die in US
bombardments
of northern Afghanistan.
On being handed to the American authorities he
says he was deprived of food,
forbidden to pray and made to shave off his
beard.
In Guantanamo Bay he says he faced relentless
questioning largely about Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
The legal notice served by Mr Chaudhry says Mr
Sagheer suffered "suffered
mental shock, financial loss, physical
victimisation, estrangement and
religious
victimisation".
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2003-07-12 Sat 15:04ct